Deidre Drewes was not home for long. After another successful interview, she began working at DragonSearch, an online marketing company in Kingston. At night, she pursued a master of arts in communications through a grueling one-year online program at Marist University in Poughkeepsie. “I was putting in 10-, 11-hour days. I would get out of work, go home and do more reading.” Somewhere she found the time to move to uptown Kingston, where she shares a place with one roommate.
“I didn’t expect to finish school and be offered a job making $70,000 a year off the bat in what I majored in. I knew that I was going to start at a lower wage and was going to have to work my way up and prove myself, and I’m obviously still in that process. I don’t have a big corner office and a glitzy title, but I’m getting there, and I’m building my name in the industry and making appearances at conferences.”
That process has its ups and downs, and occasionally resembles nothing so much as a circle. Deidre confesses, “I’m moving back home with my parents. My roommate is moving to California, and I’m kind of in a transitional thing, so it’s easiest just to pack all my furniture into their garage and see what happens.”
“I kind of wish I could have a conversation with my eleventh-grade self,” says Iyla Shornstein, “smack her around, because now I love school. I want to eventually pursue a Ph.D, but I’m not in a rush.”
She would like to travel more—somewhere between internships and graduate school, of course. Unfortunately, she has a few lingering health concerns stemming from food poisoning contracted during her previous travels, and her doctor has advised against leaving the country again just yet, before she completely recuperates.
Still, she is as excited about the future as she is about today. If she had not gone away to college, Shornstein says she would probably not be living in Saugerties today. “Completely ironic, I know. But only because I think if I had stayed here, I would have left sooner. I got a great break, I didn’t have to be here for four years. That’s the thing, I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t happy. I love the Catskills.” She even considers settling down in the area one day, after she has established herself.
“I feel like for a lot of people, their lives ended with high school,” says Iyla. For her, college has actually changed the way she views almost everything, including her hometown, and she seems to have the best of her life still ahead of her.
Michael Panke has big plans. If he can find the time, the wheels, and a few extra bucks, he hopes to go down to Pennsylvania for the SCA’s annual Pennsic War, its largest event, which pits against each other two regional groups, the Kingdom of the East and the Middle Kingdom. One day, he would like to busk around the country, playing music wherever he can find an audience. With any luck and a little bit of time, he hopes to get into a routine, wherein he will know where it is best to be seasonally, have a few friends or acquaintances willing to house him for a couple of nights in most any given location, and be able to eat relatively well and play a nice instrument. For now, Panke says, “I’m trying to get myself involved in as much local music as possible.” He and his girlfriend may go on a cross-country road trip in the near future; sort of a practice run.
School is not on the radar, but neither has he forgotten about it. He holds college in higher esteem now. “Education is its own reward. Learning is good, no matter what you’re learning,” he says. However, he also recognizes that it is neither a guarantee nor a necessity. “I don’t think that college is automatically the path to success, but I don’t think that is what it is meant to be.”
Do you know someone (maybe you) from Saugerties who has recently graduated college? We’d like to hear from you. Contact editor Will Dendis at [email protected]
